I come from a large family of educators. Hard working people
with strong values who believe that learning is a lifelong endeavor, that we
must be open-minded, compassionate, and tolerant. That we must teach, mentor,
and guide others as we not only bestow knowledge, but also evolve, redefine,
and transform our own way of thinking…constantly challenging paradigms, looking
at things from different perspectives, and in courteous and gentlemanly
fashion, debate opinions, beliefs, and schools of thought as opposed to just
accepting the status quo, or blindly accepting information as fact or doctrine.
The photograph in the picture you see before you is one of my favorites. It is
of me and my father during a family beach trip when I was just a boy. As I was looking
for Captain Morgan’s treasure snorkeling, my mask kept fogging up, causing
me to surface and momentarily halt my meticulous scanning of coral and rock
along the clear, ocean floor. Seeing my frustration, my dad patiently came over
to help. He showed me how to ensure a proper seal and fitting, but he also
taught me that you could spit onto the glass inside the mask and spread the
saliva (preferably not with your fingers), to prevent the moisture build-up. I
watched intently as he dipped the mask in the water after coating it and then had
me put it back on.
I never questioned this unconventional problem-solving method because it hadn’t been the first time that he’d shown me how to troubleshoot on
the fly. Miraculously, my mask didn’t fog up anymore, and I was able to get
right back into the game, gazing at tropical fish, looking for seashells, and
of course, the hidden treasures awaiting my discovery.
As is the case with most of these teaching moments, in hindsight,
I realize how much more my father was really imparting than just that singular
lesson. It wasn’t so much that one could simply prevent a mask from fogging up with spit,
it was also, beyond the surface, a series of life lessons that I would eventually carry with me for
the rest of my life. In the moment my dad took to show me a life hack, he
embedded in my mind a way of thinking and looking at the world. He showed me
that oftentimes there are unusual or unthought of ways of problem
solving…essentially, how to think outside the box as it were. He
demonstrated, that even out in the ocean devoid of tools, you can solve a
problem using your immediate environment, or even your own body, but that you have
to look, be open-minded, and willing to accept that your answer might lie where
you least expect it.
This picture is on my dresser for the specific reason to remind
me at the dawn of each day to remain open-minded to new ways of thinking, to challenge conventional paradigms, to seek and impart knowledge, and to be
compassionate and patient with others who may be struggling. This photograph serves as an aide-mémoire to always
look in unexpected places for a solution, to help others whenever possible, and
that even out at sea, without tools or technology, you can defog a snorkeling mask, and that oftentimes, the greatest treasures in life are not buried in the
sand or even found under the sea at all, but waiting to be discovered within us.
